Social Care News

19th April 2010

DVD for dementia sufferers being developed

A company that developed a specialist range of books for dementia sufferers is planning to launch a thought-provoking DVD aimed at care home residents.

Pictures To Share, a community interest company based in Cheshire established in 2006, is currently testing the DVD in care homes to find out what running length suits residents best and the images that work well for them.

The idea is to provide stimulating images, at a pace suitable for dementia sufferers, that can be shown in residents’ lounges.

The DVD will feature themed images set to music – for example images of the countryside and of childhood – as well as well-known poems read by the actress Fiona Phillips, whose father suffers from Alzheimer’s.

One of the poems read by the actress, who featured in a Channel 4 Dispatches film My Family And Alzheimer’s broadcast in January, is William Wordsworth’s Daffodils. The images will be a mixture of old and new, some in black and white and some in colour.

Helen Bate, managing director of Pictures To Share, said: “The DVD will be aimed at care home managers – it’s something they can easily play in residents’ lounges instead of putting on the television which is often too fast-paced for residents with dementia to take in.”

The DVD will be available from the summer once full testing has been carried out.

For more information see www.picturestoshare.co.uk